Commentary on Deng Xiaoping’s Report to the Central Committee Concerning the Rectification Campaign and Spring Ploughing (May 13, 1950) To the East China Bureau, the Central-South Bureau, the Northwest Bureau, the North China Bureau, the Northeast Bureau, the South China Sub-Bureau, and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee:

We are forwarding Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s telegram of May 11 [2] for your reference.
The sequence of steps outlined therein for the rectification campaign strikes us as correct.
You are accordingly requested to organize and carry out the work in accordance with this same sequence: first rectifying cadres at or above the county party secretary level, and then extending it to the broader ranks of cadres.

Mao Zedong May 13 Based on the manuscript copy.
Notes [1] Deng Xiaoping was at that time First Secretary of the Southwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. [2] Refers to Deng Xiaoping’s telegram of May 11, 1950, addressed to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee.
The telegram stated: “The Southwest Bureau has determined that the principal method of the rectification campaign is to link theory with practice, beginning with a review of work; to fully develop criticism and self-criticism; and thereby to raise the ideological and political level of the cadres.
The primary targets of the campaign are cadres at all levels of the army and approximately thirty thousand key local cadres, with particular emphasis on those at or above the county level.
As for the procedure, it is proposed that the provincial and regional party committees first convene a rectification session for cadres at or above the county party secretary level, since their understanding and resolve constitute the key to resolving all problems; these cadres will then be responsible for guiding the rectification of the thirty thousand.
The entire process should be completed within half a month to twenty days.”